Earlier this month, a seven-person team of professional “sandcastlers” from Sarasota, Florida plugged away during Myrtle Beach’s 2007 Sun Fun Festival. As a result of the pluck of “Team Sandtastic,” Myrtle Beach can now boast that it created the World’s Tallest Sandcastle. Measured by an independent surveyor, the sandcastle towered 49.55 feet in the air — until Tropical Storm Barry did a little remodeling. If you’re interested, you can check out a before-and-after video of the sandcastle and the storm’s effect on it.

With a base of more than 90 feet and containing 4,800 cubic yards of sand (that’s 300 truck-loads!), Team Sandtastic required 10 days to finish their masterpiece.

In addition to World’s Tallest Sandcastle, Myrtle Beach also holds the World Record for World’s Longest Sand Sculpture. At 86,535 feet long, that’s more than 16 miles of sculpture!

Keep reading for some more images of Team Sandtastic’s work, as well as details on some other unusual sandcastles around the world.

It’s not like they just dumped the sand on a flat spot and called it a sandcastle. Sandtastic worked hard at giving the edifice plenty of texture, style, and beauty.